Review: 'Ex Machina' (2015)

Universal Pictures

Through-out its running time, Ex Machina is a film that never allows it’s viewer to just go through the motions, forcing one to feel something at all times. If I wasn’t terrified, I was laughing and if I wasn’t laughing, I was squirming in my seat. As one particular feeling changed from one moment to the next, a mesmerizing sensation accompanied all of them. Because of this, with Ex Machina, it is clear that writer and director Alex Garland has taken full advantage of the science fiction drama to create a piece of work that is wonderfully crafted and extremely thought provoking.

At the base of the story Garland tells is artificial intelligence in the form of Ava (Alicia Vikander), an A.I. created in a remote research lab by Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), C.E.O. of Bluebook, the world’s largest search engine. Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a computer programmer for Bluebook, has been selected by Nathan to perform the Turing test, a test to determine if a machine intelligently has human capabilities.

To say anything more about Ex Machina’s plot would give too much away and this is certainly a film that’s eerie but welcomed tone and atmosphere is aided by plot reveals and turns. With that said though, by no means is this a film that relies on the details or twist of its plot to be successful and while Garland’s technical approach only helps, it is the ideas within this story that constantly keep you engaged.  

Though his subject may be artificial intelligence, Garland aims directly at the human condition, only using A.I. as a vehicle to explore multiple themes regarding thought processing and emotions of a human and how it plays into instinct, reaction and even society. One of the more explicitly presented of these themes comes in the form of Nathan explaining to Caleb why A.I. needs a gender as he comes right out and addresses how gender plays a role in human characteristics. As a human, we are either male or female and we define ourselves as a male or as a female. Our gender gives us boundaries and a natural definition of who we are, therefore our sexuality becomes a major part of how we think.

Another theme explored is how we tend to treat humans as objects rather than a living, breathing species just like us. Highlighting a societal trend, Ex Machina more specifically looks at how woman are treated this way. This trend is represented by Nathan’s assistant Kyoko (Sonoya Mizuno in an excellent, nearly non-verbal performance) and how he couldn’t treat her any less human. The fact that she barely says a word makes the comparison to an object even more obvious.

The way that Nathan treats Kyoko along with his overall arrogance plays into the ‘playing God’ concept that is often weaved into A.I. storylines. While directly looking at the consequences when attempting to play God, Ex Machina takes an approach similar to a Greek tragedy. Nathan, with all his power and knowledge, becomes too comfortable in the position he is in and blind to how much stronger his creation is than him. Garland quickly pens him as the villain here and someone that must be stopped. His downfall is progressively represented in his constant drinking. He becomes intoxicated often which causes him to foolishly let his guard down.          

At its core though, Ex Machina is a tale of survival. When it comes to humans and machines or in this case A.I., desperation is something that both experience when survival is in question. The difference though, when doing whatever it takes to survive, is emotion. Machines don't have them but humans are basically made of them which, as Ex Machina suggest, as Caleb and Ava are put in survival mode due to the power of Nathan, only get in the way. This idea would appear to only regard surviving against machines but it applies to any survival situation. Trust, loyalty and companionship are a few of the things one can’t help but feel when his or her life is on the line. These are also things that can help or harm a human in a survival situation.    

Science Fiction has the capability of exploring real ideas and concepts in the most haunting but fascinating ways and with Ex Machina, Garland fully realizes this. Garland’s ability to reach the audience with a crisp but unforgettably alarming approach that explores ideas that directly relate to us as they come from the very foundations of our being. Whether it can be tied into technology or societal occurrences, Garland’s Ex Machina does so as humanly as possible, making it not just a work of science fiction but a thought provoking piece that will have no trouble relating for a very long time.

Grade: A-